The second problem, as The Spectator pointed out, is expressed
by the old Latin tag : " Who is to guard the guardians? " Major wars are not provoked by small Powers ; they are provoked by great Powers ; and if this vast'-machinery of conciliation and force is not to be applied to the great Powers, then the whole scheme appears meaningless. It is salutary in this connexion to recall the Corfu incident of 1923, a transaction which dealt the first heavy blow to the prestige of the League of Nations The facts are simple. On August 27th, 1923, the Italian General Tellini was murdered by bandits while delimitating the Grzeco-Albanian frontier in the region of Janina ; although it was never proved that any Greek citizen was responsible for this murder, the Italian Government presented an ultimatum at Athens, and thereafter bombarded and occupied the Greek island of. Corfu ; the Greek Government thereupon appealed to the League of Nations: Few occasions could have been so favour- able, for effective League intervention ; on the one hand Mussolini was not as yet firmly established in power, and could scarcely have resisted any concerted pressure ; on the other hand, not only the Council, but also the Assembly of the League were at that moment in session in Geneva.
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